Street-indicator



B. H. TRAPP.

STREET INDICATOR.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 29. ms.

1,32 3,931 Patented Dec. 2,1919.

' FARM STREET 13 17 TRANSFERS East or West on F'arnum STREET -INDICATOB.

Application filed April 29, 1918.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN H. TRAPP, a citizen of the United States,residing at Omaha, in the county of Douglas, State of Nebraska, haveinvented a new and useful Street-Indicator; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable o'thers skilled in the art to which it appertains tomake and use the same.

The present invention relates to a street indicating device for cars andvehicles, and has for its object to provide a device of this characterwhich embodies novel features of cbnstruction whereby a web carrying thenames of intersecting streets and stopping places can be given a step bystep movement so that the name of each street or stopping place will bedisplayed at the proper time. The passengers on the car or vehicle willthen be enabled to get off at the proper street without difficulty. 9

Further objects of the invention are to provide a street indicator whichis simple and inexpensive in its construction, which can be readilymounted upon any conventional street car or vehicle, which can be easilyactuated, and which can be readily reversed at the end of the route.

lVith these and other objects in view, the invention consists in certainnovel combinations and arrangements of the parts as will more fullyappear as the description proceeds, the novel features thereof beingpointed out in the appended claims.

For a full understanding of the invention, reference is to be had tothefollowing description and accompanying drawings, in which v Figure 1is a front elevation of a street indicator constructed in accordancewiththe invention, portions of the casing being broken away.

Fig. 2 is an end view of the street indicator, with portions broken awayand shown in section, and

Fig. 3 is a detail perspective view of the reversing lever.

Corresponding and like partsare referred to in the following descriptionand indicated in all the views of the drawings by the same referencecharacters.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 1 designates a casing which isintended to be mounted at a convenientv position in a street car,preferably at one of the ends Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented nee. 2, rain.

Serial No. 231,384.

thereof so that it can be readily seen by all of the passengers. A viewopening 2 is formed in the front of the casing, and a transparent window3 is fitted in the View opening. Extending transversely across theinterior of the casing are an upper horizontal shaft and a lowerhorizontal shaft 5, said shafts having a parallel relation to each otherand being a'ranged above and below the view opening, respectively. A web(3 has the ends thereof secured to the .resper;tive shafts, said webbeing carried downwardly from the front of the roller on the upper shaftand extending around an idler 7 to the back of the roller on the lowershaft. The names of the different street intersections or stoppingplaces are printed or indicated upon the web 6, as indicated at S, andthe names of these streets are successively displayed through the windowof the casing as the web is moved back and forth across the window byrolling or unrolling it upon the two shafts. A pinion 9 is loose uponeach of the shafts a and 5, said pinions carrying pawls 10 which areheld in a yielding engagement with ratchet wheels 11 by means of springs12. The ratchet wheels are rigid with the respective shafts, and it willbe obvious that with this construction the shafts will be rotated whenthe pinions are moved in one direction, although the pawls will slipover the teeth of the ratchet wheels when the pinions are moved in theopposite direction.

An upright reciprocating rack bar 13 is arranged at the rear of thepinions 9 of the upper and lower shafts, said rack bar being providedwith upper and lower sets of teeth 1% which mesh with the teeth of therespective pinions. The rack bar is provided at its middle portion witha longitudinal slot 15 and at its upper portion with a similar slot 16.The slot 15 loosely receives a fixed pivot pin 17 which projects fromone end of the casing, while the slot 16 loosely receives a pinlS on ashifting link 19. The rack bar 13 is intended to be swung back and forthupon the pivot pin 17 to bring either set of gear teeth 14 into meshwith the'respective pinion 9, the lower set of teeth 14 being out ofmesh with the lower pinion 9, when the upper set of teeth 14 is in meshwith the upper pinion 9, and vice versa. The position of the rack bar iscontrolled by the shifting link 19 and reversing lever 20, the latterbeing located in a convenient position at the front of the cas ing. Therear end of the link 19 is pivotally supported by a hanger 21, while theforward end thereof is pivotally connected at 22 to one end of thereversing lever 20, The latter is shown as rigid with a short horizontalshaft 23 which is loosely received in ears 24: projecting from the frontof the asing. This short shaft 23 may be Inounted to have a slightsliding movement as well as a rotary movement, and one end of the shaftis shown as provided with a lateral pin 25 which is adapted to bepositioned in either one of two notched seats 26 in one of the ears 24-to hold the lever in an adjusted position. A coil spring 27 which isinterposed between the opposite ear 2% and the lever 20 serves to holdthe pin 25 in position within either one of the seats end of its routeand it is desiredto inanipu late the lever 20 to reverse the position ofthe reciprocating rack bar 13, it is merely necessary to applysufficient lateral pressure to the lever to slide the shaft 23 againstthe action of the spring 27 and thereby-disengage the lateral pin 25from the notch 26 in which. it has been seated.

The lower end of the reciprocating rack bar 13 is loosely connected by ashort link 28 to the intermediate portion of an operating lever 29. Oneendof this lever 29 is pivoted at 30 upon the casing 1, while theopposite end thereof projects through the casing and is operativelyconnected in some suitable manner, as by means of alink 31,

to a foot lever This foot lever may be arranged in a convenient positionfor operation by the inotorinan, and when approaching a particularstreet intersection or stopping place the inotornian will operate thefoot lever 32 and thereby cause the web 6 to be moved to display thename of the next stopping place. The passengers inthe car will thus bekept informed about the various stopping places as they are approached,so that there will be no difiiculty or annoyance in getting off at theright street. is soon as the foot lever 32 is released by the motornianthe operating lever will be returned to its original position by theoperation of a spring 33 which is connected thereto. Upon the downwardmovement of the rack bar 13 causedby actuation of the foot lever 32, oneofthe shafts upon which the web 5 is mounted will be positively rotatedto move the web, while upon the upward movement of the rack bar which iscaused by the spring 33 the pinion 9 will rotate independently of theshaft. When the car is moving flower er, when the car has reached the rin one direction the rack bar 13 is placed in engagement with the pinion9 'of the upper shaft, while when the car is moving in' the oppositedirection the rack bar is placed in engagement with the pinion 9 of thelower shaft, the position of the rack bar being reversed at each end ofthe route by nianipulating the reversing lever 20.

Having thus described the invention,what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is V 1. A street indicator including upper andlower shafts, a web coi'inecting the shafts and adapted to be wound andunwound thereon, ratchet wheels rigidwith the shafts, pinions loose uponthe shafts, pawls carried by the pinions and engaging the ratchetwheels, anupright rack bar provided at its middle portion with alongitudinal slot and i having independent sets of rack teeth at itsopposite ends, a fixed pivot pin loosely received within the slot of therack bar,- a

shifting link extending ti'aiisversely "with respect to the rack bar andloosely connected to one end thereof, means cooperating with theshifting link to swing the rack bar and bring" either set of teeththereof'into engagement with the respective pinion, a

ment and provided at its opposite ends'witlr independent sets of rackteeth, a shifting hnl: loosely connected to the mo: bar for swinging thesame to bring either set of rack teeth thereof into engagement with thecorresponding pinion, the'racl: teethat the opposite end of the barbeing simultaneously: disengaged from the other pinion, ;-and

means for reciprocating the rack bar while it is held in engagement withone of the pinions and outof engagement with the other pinion by theshifting link.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

BENJAMIN nannisou r'narr.

Witnesses: V 3 I BERNICE WVAZYNKEWIOZ, CHAS. G. KaRL UIsr;

